This invention relates generally to forms used in making woven baskets having bottom portions at each of at least two different levels, such that their outer bottom portions may rest upon surfaces at different heights. These baskets will be referred to as "stepped-bottom" baskets.
Stepped-bottom baskets provide conveniently accessible storage for differently sized items. Two-level baskets shaped like an inverted "L" are common. The deeper portion of these baskets may be used to hold larger items, such as reading materials and craft supplies, while the shallower portion may be used to hold smaller items, such as eyeglasses, pens, and scissors. A user seated in a chair easily may reach into a stepped-bottom basket placed alongside the chair to retrieve both the large and small items stored in the basket. Besides being used on flat surfaces for storing differently sized items, these baskets also may be placed on stairs, with the bottom of the deeper portion resting upon one stair tread and the bottom of the shallower portion resting upon the next higher stair tread, and used to assemble items to be taken up or down the stairs.
Woven wooden baskets generally are made by shaping the basket over a basket mold, or form. Weaving splints are conformed to the form either prior to or during basket construction and are intertwined to form various basket panels.
Basket forms typically have a shape that defines the shape of the interior of the basket. Although it might be possible to weave a stepped-bottom basket using a unitary form that conforms to the shape of the basket interior, it would be difficult to produce a high-quality basket using such an unwieldy form.